CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 33

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea

Gaffney, Vincent, Fitch, Simon, Bates, Martin, Ware, Roselyn L., Kinnaird, Tim, Gearey, Benjamin, Hill, Tom, Telford, Richard, Batt, Cathy, Stern, Ben, Whittaker, John, Davies, Sarah, Sharada, Mohammed Ben, Everett, Rosie, Cribdon, Rebecca, Kistler, Logan, Harris, Sam, Kearney, Kevin, Walker, James, Muru, Merle, Hamilton, Derek, Law, Matthew, Finlay, Alex, Bates, Richard, Allaby, Robin G.·2020·Geosciences
DOI 10.3390/geosciences10070270

Published version of a preprint

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed as, to date, no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence of a tsunami deposit in the southern North Sea at the head of a palaeo-river system that has been identified using seismic survey. The evidence, based on lithostratigraphy, geochemical signatures, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), supported by optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, suggests that these deposits were a result of the tsunami. Seismic identification of this stratum and analysis of adjacent cores showed diminished traces of the tsunami which was largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/geosciences10070270

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Figures

Figure 1 The North Sea, Storegga underwater landslide event run-out, associated deposit locations and core ELF001A. Location of deposits associated with Storegga slip follow data in summarized [8].
Figure 1 The North Sea, Storegga underwater landslide event run-out, associated deposit locations and core ELF001A. Location of deposits associated with Storegga slip follow data in summarized [8].CC-BY · From the PDF
Figure 2 Geormorphological reconstruction of the palaeolandscape off the east coast of England c. 8.2 ka cal BP. Above: Present coast of East England (grey) with offshore area showing the coastline reconstruction at approximately 8.2 ka cal BP, position of moraine ridge (after Dove et al. [20]), location of core and seismic line example. Below: 2D seismic line acquired through core location showing major reflection horizons, base surface and the major erosional boundary identified as a Figure 2. Geormorphological reconstruction of the palaeolandscape o the east coast of England c. 8.2 ka cal BP. Above: Present coast of East England (grey) with o shore area showing the coastline reconstruction at approximately 8.2 ka cal BP, position of moraine ridge (after Dove et al. [20]), location of core and seismic line example. Below: 2D seismic line acquired through core location showing major reflection horizons, base surface and the major erosional boundary identified as a regional event.
Figure 2 Geormorphological reconstruction of the palaeolandscape off the east coast of England c. 8.2 ka cal BP. Above: Present coast of East England (grey) with offshore area showing the coastline reconstruction at approximately 8.2 ka cal BP, position of moraine ridge (after Dove et al. [20]), location of core and seismic line example. Below: 2D seismic line acquired through core location showing major reflection horizons, base surface and the major erosional boundary identified as a Figure 2. Geormorphological reconstruction of the palaeolandscape o the east coast of England c. 8.2 ka cal BP. Above: Present coast of East England (grey) with o shore area showing the coastline reconstruction at approximately 8.2 ka cal BP, position of moraine ridge (after Dove et al. [20]), location of core and seismic line example. Below: 2D seismic line acquired through core location showing major reflection horizons, base surface and the major erosional boundary identified as a regional event.CC-BY · From the PDF
Figure 3 Geochemical analysis of vibrocore ELF001A. A : Organic chemistry profile. Carbon Preference Index (CPI) is an indicator of marine or terrestrial environments. N-alkane proxy ration (Paq) distinguishes emergent and submerged aquatic plants. Natural alkanes ratio (NAR) distinguishes n-alkanes from natural oil sources from other sources such as higher plants. B . Optical stimulation luminescence (OSL). C . Chemostratigraphy based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), Quartz grain size (Quartz/Clay; Si/Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr) D . Figure 3. Geochemical analysis of vibrocore ELF001A. A : Organic chemistry profile. Carbon Preference Index (CPI) is an indicator of marine or terrestrial environments. N-alkane proxy ration (Paq) distinguishes emergent and submerged aquatic plants. Natural alkanes ratio (NAR) distinguishes n-alkanes from natural oil sources from other sources such as higher plants. B . Optical stimulation luminescence (OSL). C . Chemostratigraphy based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), Quartz grain size (Quartz / Clay; Si / Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr) D . Palaeomagnetism profile.
Figure 3 Geochemical analysis of vibrocore ELF001A. A : Organic chemistry profile. Carbon Preference Index (CPI) is an indicator of marine or terrestrial environments. N-alkane proxy ration (Paq) distinguishes emergent and submerged aquatic plants. Natural alkanes ratio (NAR) distinguishes n-alkanes from natural oil sources from other sources such as higher plants. B . Optical stimulation luminescence (OSL). C . Chemostratigraphy based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), Quartz grain size (Quartz/Clay; Si/Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr) D . Figure 3. Geochemical analysis of vibrocore ELF001A. A : Organic chemistry profile. Carbon Preference Index (CPI) is an indicator of marine or terrestrial environments. N-alkane proxy ration (Paq) distinguishes emergent and submerged aquatic plants. Natural alkanes ratio (NAR) distinguishes n-alkanes from natural oil sources from other sources such as higher plants. B . Optical stimulation luminescence (OSL). C . Chemostratigraphy based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), Quartz grain size (Quartz / Clay; Si / Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr) D . Palaeomagnetism profile.CC-BY · From the PDF
Figure 4 Proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. Internal sub zones of geochemistry unit C3 showing eight sub units that form the chemical architecture of the tsunami Figure 4. Proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. Internal sub zones of geochemistry unit C3 showing eight sub units that form the chemical architecture of the tsunami deposit based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), grain size (Quartz / Clay; Si / Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr).
Figure 4 Proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. Internal sub zones of geochemistry unit C3 showing eight sub units that form the chemical architecture of the tsunami Figure 4. Proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. Internal sub zones of geochemistry unit C3 showing eight sub units that form the chemical architecture of the tsunami deposit based on chemical proxies for shell (Sr), Clay (Rb), grain size (Quartz / Clay; Si / Rb) and terrestrial material (Detrital zircons; Zr).CC-BY · From the PDF
Figure 5 Cont .
Figure 5 Cont .CC-BY · From the PDF
Image 6
CC-BY · From the PDF
Figure 6 Interpretation of proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. The initial sea level fall is marked by increased terrestrial material ( green arrows ). Waves are characterised by an increase of energy reflected by increased grainsize at the base ( blue arrow ), which peaks approximately in the centre of the sub unit ( black arrow ), before decreasing to a flow velocity ( red arrow ) to stagnation at the top of the sub unit ( grey arrow ). Inflow ( towards land ) water movement is characterised by the larger shell material peak ( purple arrow ) whereas retreat (seaward) movement is marked by a larger terrestrial signature. The end of the tsunami zone is marked by a clay cap where wave energy ( velocity of flow ) returns to minimum values. Figure 6. Interpretation of proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. The initial sea level fall is marked by increased terrestrial material ( green arrows ). Waves are characterised by an increase of energy reflected by increased grainsize at the base ( blue arrow ), which peaks approximately in the centre of the sub unit ( black arrow ), before decreasing to a flow velocity ( red arrow ) to stagnation at the top of the sub unit ( grey arrow ). Inflow ( towards land ) water movement is characterised by the larger shell material peak ( purple arrow ) whereas retreat (seaward) movement is marked by a larger terrestrial signature. The end of the tsunami zone is marked by a clay cap where wave energy ( velocity of flow ) returns to minimum values.
Figure 6 Interpretation of proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. The initial sea level fall is marked by increased terrestrial material ( green arrows ). Waves are characterised by an increase of energy reflected by increased grainsize at the base ( blue arrow ), which peaks approximately in the centre of the sub unit ( black arrow ), before decreasing to a flow velocity ( red arrow ) to stagnation at the top of the sub unit ( grey arrow ). Inflow ( towards land ) water movement is characterised by the larger shell material peak ( purple arrow ) whereas retreat (seaward) movement is marked by a larger terrestrial signature. The end of the tsunami zone is marked by a clay cap where wave energy ( velocity of flow ) returns to minimum values. Figure 6. Interpretation of proxy environmental data for key section (C3) of core ELF001A. The initial sea level fall is marked by increased terrestrial material ( green arrows ). Waves are characterised by an increase of energy reflected by increased grainsize at the base ( blue arrow ), which peaks approximately in the centre of the sub unit ( black arrow ), before decreasing to a flow velocity ( red arrow ) to stagnation at the top of the sub unit ( grey arrow ). Inflow ( towards land ) water movement is characterised by the larger shell material peak ( purple arrow ) whereas retreat (seaward) movement is marked by a larger terrestrial signature. The end of the tsunami zone is marked by a clay cap where wave energy ( velocity of flow ) returns to minimum values.CC-BY · From the PDF
Image 8
CC-BY · From the PDF

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 2 references

Research works printed but not linked: 26

  1. Coles, 1998, Doggerland: A speculative survey, Proc. Prehist. Soc., 64, 45, 10.1017/S0079497X00002176 · DOI
  2. Weninger, 2008, The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami, Doc. Praehist., 35, 1, 10.4312/dp.35.1 · DOI
  3. Waddington, 2017, Resilience or wipe out? Evaluating the convergent impacts of the 8.2 ka event and Storegga tsunami on the Mesolithic of northeast Britain, J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep., 14, 692
  4. Bondevik, 1997, The Storegga tsunami along the Norwegian coast, its age and runup, Boreas, 26, 29, 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1997.tb00649.x · DOI
  5. Fruergaard, 2015, Tsunami propagation over a wide, shallow continental shelf caused by the Storegga slide, southeastern North Sea, Denmark, Geology, 43, 1047
  6. Hill, J., Avdis, A., Mouradian, S., Collins, G.S., and Piggott, M. (2017). Was Doggerland catastrophically flooded by the Mesolithic Storegga tsunami?. arXiv.
  7. Bondevik, 2005, The Storegga Slide tsunami—Comparing field observations with numerical simulations, Mar. Pet. Geol., 22, 195, 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.10.003 · DOI
  8. Walker, J., Gaffney, V., Fitch, S., Muru, M., Fraser, A., Bates, M., and Bates, R. (2020). A Great Wave: The Storegga Tsunami and the end of Doggerland?. Antiquity, in press. · DOI
  9. Dawson, 2007, Tsunami deposits in the geological record, Sediment. Geol., 200, 166, 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2007.01.002 · DOI
  10. Fujiwara, 2007, Identification of tsunami deposits considering the tsunami waveform: An example of subaqueous tsunami deposits in Holocene shallow bay on southern Boso Peninsula, Central Japan, Sediment. Geol., 200, 295, 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2007.01.009 · DOI
  11. Nanayama, 2000, Sedimentary differences between the 1993 Hokkaido-nansei-oki tsunami and the 1959 Miyakojima typhoon at Taisea, southwestern Hokkaido, northern Japan, Sediment. Geol., 135, 255, 10.1016/S0037-0738(00)00076-2 · DOI
  12. Kortekaas, 2007, Distinguishing tsunami and storm surge: An example from Martinhal, SW Portugal, Sediment. Geol., 200, 208, 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2007.01.004 · DOI
  13. Goff, 2002, Sedimentary differences between the 2002 Easter storm and the 15th century Okoropunga tsunami, southeastern North Island, New Zealand, Mar. Geol., 204, 235, 10.1016/S0025-3227(03)00352-9 · DOI
  14. Morton, 2007, Physical criteria for distinguishing sandy tsunami and storm deposits using modern examples, Sediment. Geol., 200, 184, 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2007.01.003 · DOI
  15. Riou, 2020, Backwash sediment record of the 2009 South Pacific Tsunami and 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake Tsunami, Nat. Sci. Rep., 10, 1
  16. Peters, R., and Jaffe, B. (2010). Identification of Tsunami Deposits in the Geologic Record; Developing Criteria Using Recent Tsunami Deposits, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1239. · DOI
  17. Dawson, 2000, Tsunami deposits, Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 875, 10.1007/s000240050010 · DOI
  18. Bradley, 2011, An improved glacial isostatic adjustment model for the British Isles, J. Quat. Sci., 26, 541, 10.1002/jqs.1481 · DOI
  19. Dove, 2017, Phased occupation and retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet in the southern North Sea; geomorphic and seismostratigraphic evidence of a dynamic ice lobe, Quat. Sci. Rev., 163, 114, 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.03.006 · DOI
  20. Fortin, 2012, Destructive and non-destructive density determination: Method comparison and evaluationfrom the Laguna Potrok Aike sedimentary record, Quat. Sci. Rev., 71, 147, 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.08.024 · DOI
  21. Shinozaki, 2017, Applications of geochemistry in tsunami research: A review, Earth-Sci. Rev., 165, 203, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.12.003 · DOI
  22. Kistler, 2017, A new model for ancient DNA decay based on paleogenomic meta-analysis, Nucleic Acids Res., 45, 6310, 10.1093/nar/gkx361 · DOI
  23. Willerslev, 2007, Ancient Biomolecules from Deep Ice Cores Reveal a Forested Southern Greenland, Science, 317, 111, 10.1126/science.1141758 · DOI · Paper page
  24. Wagner, 2006, First indication of Storegga tsunami deposits from East Greenland, J. Quat. Sci., 22, 321, 10.1002/jqs.1064 · DOI
  25. Didenkulova, 2010, Runup of tsunami waves in U-shaped bays, Pure Appl. Geophys., 168, 1239, 10.1007/s00024-010-0232-8 · DOI
  26. Bondevik, 1997, Tsunami sedimentary facies deposited by the Storegga tsunami in shallow marine basins and coastal lakes, western Norway, Sedimentology, 44, 1115, 10.1046/j.1365-3091.1997.d01-63.x · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

  • Ancient DNA analysis

    Orlando, L., Allaby, R., Skoglund, P., Der Sarkissian, C., Stockhammer, P. W., Ávila-Arcos, M. C., Fu, Q., Krause, J., Willerslev, E., Stone, A. C., et al. (2021) · Nature Reviews Methods Primers · doi:10.1038/s43586-020-00011-0 · Cited by 411

    Self-citation

See all 33

Metadata

Authors
Gaffney, V., Fitch, S., Bates, M., Ware, R. L., Kinnaird, T., Gearey, B., Hill, T., Telford, R., Batt, C., Stern, B., Whittaker, J., Davies, S., Sharada, M. B., Everett, R., Cribdon, R., Kistler, L., Harris, S., Kearney, K., Walker, J., Muru, M., Hamilton, D., Law, M., Finlay, A., Bates, R., & Allaby, R. G.
Affiliations
  • School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
  • Faculty of Humanities and Performing Arts, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales SA48 7ED, UK
  • School of Life Sciences, Gibbet Hill Campus, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
  • School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AL, UK
  • Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, T12 CY82 Cork, Ireland
  • Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
  • Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3FL, UK
  • Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
  • SUERC Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Scottish Enterprise Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK
  • School of Sciences, Bath Spa University, Bath BA2 9BN, UK
  • Chemostrat Ltd., 1 Ravenscroft Court, Buttington Cross Enterprise Park, Welshpool, Powys SY21 8SL, UK
ORCID
Venue
Geosciences
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-07-15
Volume
10
Issue
7
Pages
270
ISSN
2076-3263
DOI
10.3390/geosciences10070270
Cited by
33
References
2
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
European Research Council (670518)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3390/geosciences10070270
The paper
Gaffney, V., Fitch, S., Bates, M., Ware, R. L., Kinnaird, T., Gearey, B., Hill, T., Telford, R., Batt, C., Stern, B., Whittaker, J., Davies, S., Sharada, M. B., Everett, R., Cribdon, R., Kistler, L., Harris, S., Kearney, K., Walker, J., . . . Allaby, R. G. (2020). Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea. Geosciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10070270